The Online Job Search Obstacles....

    If you go back even 5 years ago, it seemed as though the most efficient way to search and apply for jobs was online.  Sites such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com were exploding, sucking the masses into their job-providing frenzy at a time when some of the largest percentages of Americans were unemployed.  Now, however, this tide seems to be turning.  

    A few statistics (taken from the article 50+ Job Search Statistics You Need To Know on careerchangechallenge.com):

    - Online Marketing (online resume posting) yields an 8% chance of success in uncovering the next job opportunity.  This rate MATCHES those of 2003 when this strategy was still in its infancy.

    - Referrals from within the organization (18%) and outside the organization (9%) are the most successful ways to land an opportunity.

    Statistics like this stagger but don't surprise me when I look back over my job search of the last handful of months.  It has become the running joke-that-isn't-really-a-joke in the realm of those looking for a job: "Go ahead and send in a resume through an online site.  Good luck, though, because at that point it just disappears into the ethos, with a slim chance of ever being seen again."  Online sites have become the Phantom Zone of the job-hunting world.  This shouldn't surprise me when looking back, especially when I begin considering the massive number of times I have sent my resume out.  What is even more sad is the low number of times I was excited to even get a "We're sorry, but..." reply through email (a grand total of 3, out of the approximate 40 applications that have been submitted).  Excited.  To be told I didn't get the job.

    Something scarier happened to me via one of these sites this week.  It was a spontaneous email from an "employer".  This is not a reply to a job I found and applied to, rather one of those emails that the "employer" sends out to "candidates they feel fit their needs."  I've received these before - always for a "high paying position in sales" - but never one that met the level of disturbing sketchiness that this one does.  It had the subject line "your resume", and the email was titled "Best Career Ever" from andrewj70@hotmail.com.  The full email read as follows:

    Hello Melissa Gard

    Your contact was brought to us from CareerBuilder

    We're making a network of courier agents so we're looking to hire people.

    Learn of our nice idea

    Drop us an email gggcoby29@gmail.com and we will write a response to you in 24 hours
    PLEASE DO NOT REPLY DIRECTLY, USE ABOVEMENTIONED EMAIL

    Thanks
    Alan

    First of all, this is from CareerBuilder, for goodness' sake.  Really, CareerBuilder?  Could we not screen employers a bit more?  Secondly, all of my information clearly states that I'm looking for something within the editing field.  Could you please maybe think about that before sending me an email with a distinct LACK of correct grammar and punctuation?  Third, all I can think when I hear "courier agent" is ILLEGAL ILLEGAL ILLEGAL!!!  Like, screaming red flag illegal!

    Luckily, I'm not far enough gone yet that I ever even thought about replying to the email. Because, well, seriously! I feel gross just reading it!  I can see, however, how people would check it out.  I read an article today that was titled "6 Scientific Discoveries that Laugh in the Face of Science".  I am truly tempted to send them the statistics of my job search, because I keep telling myself that the Law of Averages has to kick in at SOME POINT, but it just keeps on not happening.  What this tells me is that it is past time to change my game.  It is time to decide what outcome I want, and shape everything that happens towards meeting that end.